Money Concepts Capital Corp Grows Stake in Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK)

Money Concepts Capital Corp lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) by 2.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,630 shares of the company’s stock after purchasing an additional 929 shares during the period. Money Concepts Capital Corp’s holdings in Merck & Co., Inc. were worth $2,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 251,096,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $24,979,041,000 after buying an additional 1,292,192 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Merck & Co., Inc. by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 80,742,030 shares of the company’s stock valued at $8,032,217,000 after acquiring an additional 4,932,647 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 61,181,863 shares of the company’s stock worth $6,072,582,000 after purchasing an additional 2,026,859 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $3,479,799,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Merck & Co., Inc. by 16.8% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 31,377,107 shares of the company’s stock valued at $3,121,395,000 after buying an additional 4,511,742 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 76.07% of the company’s stock.

Merck & Co., Inc. Trading Down 0.9%

MRK stock opened at $78.94 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $198.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 11.49, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $79.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 1.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.69. Merck & Co., Inc. has a 52-week low of $73.31 and a 52-week high of $132.29.

Merck & Co., Inc. (NYSE:MRK) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The company reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.16 by $0.06. Merck & Co., Inc. had a return on equity of 43.23% and a net margin of 27.27%. The business had revenue of $15.53 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.07 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Merck & Co., Inc. will post 9.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Merck & Co., Inc. Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 8th. Investors of record on Monday, June 16th will be issued a $0.81 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 16th. This represents a $3.24 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.10%. Merck & Co., Inc.’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.16%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Merck & Co., Inc. news, SVP Dalton E. Smart III sold 4,262 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.76, for a total transaction of $352,723.12. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 7,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $643,707.28. This trade represents a 35.40% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.13% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MRK has been the topic of several recent research reports. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $115.00 price objective on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research report on Thursday, April 17th. Cantor Fitzgerald cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from an “overweight” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Merck & Co., Inc. from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down from $115.00) on shares of Merck & Co., Inc. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Merck & Co., Inc. presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.19.

Merck & Co., Inc. Profile

Merck & Co, Inc is a health care company, which engages in the provision of health solutions through its prescription medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies, animal health, and consumer care products. It operates through the following segments: Pharmaceutical, Animal Health, and Other. The Pharmaceutical segment includes human health pharmaceutical and vaccine products.